Published in The Fiji Times on Saturday, May 31, 2014
Akapusi Qera, the Vodafone Flying Fijians skipper, believes executing the basic rugby skills could result in an upset win over the visiting Azzuri next Saturday.
Yesterday, during a training session, the breakaway forward recalled how tough the Italy side was during their last Test match at November Tour last year.
He said the visitors’ strength lies upfront. And he is optimistic of an upset to gift the home crowd in Suva a perfect start, building up to the Rugby World Cup qualifier match against the Cook Islands on June 28.
“This game is a good platform for us before the Cook Islands match, we got to step up,” he said.
“But our main focus at the moment is Italy. We’re working on perfecting the basic skills, to give our best shot and hopefully upset them (Italy) next week.”
Qera led the side’s training sessions in the morning and afternoon. While he acknowledged the Almighty for the opportunity to lead Fiji during the June Test series, Qera believes his teammates had a challenge to overcome.
He said Italy would not be an easy side to topple despite playing in front of the home crowd at the ANZ Stadium.
“I thank the Almighty for the opportunity to lead this wonderful and talented team and I thank the boys for the effort for travelling across to come and represent the country and we hope to do Fiji proud next week.
“Italy is an unbeatable team, we faced them up North last November, they are good upfront and we’ve been training well this week to try and counter them.”
The Toulouse openside flanker said Fiji had a good mix of players. He said winning the opening game against Italy would set the platform to defending the Pacific Nations Cup against Samoa and Tonga.
“Winning the PNC last year was a platform for us to go from and this year is another stepping stone, we’ve totally forgotten about last year and our main focus is against Italy.
“We’re sharpening our basic skills, passing drills and some of our defence, but everything is all good and everything is positive.”
